1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electro-optical apparatus suitable for displaying various types of information, and electronic equipment.
2. Related Art
Examples of an electro-optical apparatus are an image display apparatus such as a stereoscopic image display apparatus for displaying a three-dimensional stereoscopic image and a two-screen display device that displays different images for observers at different observing positions. In Japanese Patent No. 2857429, an image display apparatus which can achieve stereoscopic display of a parallax barrier system is described as one of the systems of the stereoscopic display apparatus which can display a three-dimensional stereoscopic image. In this image display apparatus, predetermined shaped openings and light-shielding portions are arranged in a stripe pattern at predetermined positions of an electronic parallax barrier by controlling the electronic parallax barrier arranged on the observer's side of the image display surface with control device such as a microcomputer. For example, the openings of the electronic parallax barrier are formed so that an image for the left eye enters into the observer's left eye, and an image for the right eye enters into the observer's right eye when presenting a three-dimensional stereoscopic image to the observer. It is also configured to allow the entire image to enter both of the observer's eyes by controlling the electronic parallax barrier to form an opening over the entire area when presenting a two-dimensional (plane) image to the observer.
In the related art, there is also an image display apparatus provided with a barrier having slit-shaped openings and light-shielding portions arranged on the observer side of the display panel so that two-screen display which presents different images to observers at different observing positions is achieved.
However, in the image display apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 2857429, the electronic parallax barrier is arranged on the observer's side of the image display surface. Therefore, part of the light outputted from the image display surface is disadvantageously shielded by the shielding portions of the electronic parallax barrier. Consequently, there arises a problem such that the image appears to be dark since the luminance of the image observed by the observer is too low. In the image display apparatus which can achieve the two-screen display in the related art, there is a problem such that it has a property that the observation range of the observer is proportional to one pixel pitch of the display panel, and hence when the pixel pitch is lowered, the observation range of the observer is also decreased, which makes provision of a high quality image to observers at different observing positions difficult.
Therefore, recently, an image display apparatus for achieving two-screen display and stereoscopic image display by controlling the direction of light rays having polarization axes in different directions with a lenticular lens has been developed. In such an image display apparatus, a polarization controlling liquid crystal panel is used on the light-incident side of the lenticular lens for generating light rays having polarization axes in the directions different from each other. The polarization controlling liquid crystal panel includes a pair of substrates, liquid crystal held between the pair of substrates, and a plurality of electrodes arranged in a stripe pattern on the inner surface of one of the substrates. The polarization controlling liquid crystal panel applies a voltage to a predetermined electrode out of the plurality of electrodes formed in the stripe pattern to change the alignment of the liquid crystal corresponding to the position of the predetermined electrode. Accordingly, the polarization controlling the liquid crystal panel can output light rays entering the polarization controlling liquid crystal panel as light rays which pass through the liquid crystal corresponding to the positions of the predetermined electrodes and light rays which pass through the liquid crystal corresponding to the positions other than the positions of the predetermined electrode having polarization axes in directions different from each other.
However, there is a problem in the image display apparatus using the lenticular lens such that in the case of the two-screen display, the boundary between two images may be shifted from the center of the display screen when presenting the different images to the observers at the different observing positions. There is also a problem such that part of the image to be presented to one observer may be intermixed with an image to be presented to the other observer.